HSBC has collaborated with Google Cloud to support companies in the Google Cloud -- Sustainability program with financing options.
HSBC aims to deploy $1 billion of climate tech finance. The Google Cloud -- Sustainability program is a program for companies with solutions on Google Cloud that help customers with their climate goals, such as emissions reduction, ESG reporting, or increased sustainability. Under the partnership, Google Cloud will introduce companies in the program to HSBC’s specialist climate tech finance team to explore potential venture debt financing.
In addition, Google Cloud aims to increase the number of companies in the sustainability program over the next two years. The partnership follows HSBC’s launch of its credit risk advisory tool on Google Cloud.
“A step change is needed to scale up the new technologies that will play a critical role in supporting global decarbonization,” Natalie Blyth, global head of commercial banking sustainability at HSBC, said in a statement. "Partnerships and innovative financing solutions are key, especially during a period when investment in climate tech startups has fallen. By combining financing support, cloud technologies, and connectivity to partners across our combined footprints, we will help climate tech vendors accelerate their growth, and develop the solutions we urgently need at scale.”
The partnership between the two companies comes as green financing continues to grow. In January 2024, global sales of green, social, sustainability, and sustainability-linked bonds amounted to $149.5 billion -- a new record, according to a Bloomberg report.
HSBC will seek financial opportunities for companies in Google Cloud’s sustainability program.
The global bank also launched a new venture debt financing package delivered to LevelTen Energy, a company that provides renewable transaction infrastructure buyers, sellers, advisors, and financiers in the clean energy economy. LevelTen Energy has facilitated more than $5 billion in clean energy transactions.
Last year, Google joined LevelTen Energy’s Granular Certificate Trading Alliance, a first-of-its-kind trading and management platform for granular certificates, or energy attribute certificates, that verify the time and location where carbon-free energy is generated. The platform enables energy buyers to easily source carbon-free energy and incentivize energy sellers to produce clean energy
“The scale of climate challenge requires a global ecosystem of technology providers bringing solutions that drive impact. This is why we launched our Google Cloud Ready -- Sustainability ecosystem which, one year in, includes leading climate tech companies. Many of these partners need access to finance and we are excited to partner with HSBC to support firms key to climate action,” said Justin Keeble, managing director for global sustainability at Google Cloud.
